Frequently Asked Questions
For more than 70 years, St. Andrew’s has provided an exceptionally well-rounded education honoring our Scholar, Artist, Athlete, and Servant pillars. It’s time to “Raise the Roof” with these exciting building projects!
This new campaign will support best-in-class flexible classroom buildings, STEM and Design Labs, a significant improvement in our athletics facilities and fields, increased community spaces and course offerings, and a transformed Middle School experience.
- We want to focus on creating the best academic programs — and proper facilities to support these programs — to challenge and inspire our students.
- We want to take advantage of our ample outdoor spaces at our Southwest Parkway campus and revitalize the use of outdoor space on our 31st Street campus with an eye on experiential and outdoor learning.
- We want to offer best-in-class sports facilities and a variety of enhanced arts programming and facilities that fuel healthy hearts, minds, and bodies.
- We want our spaces to invite collaboration, creativity, and build community.
- This capital campaign will support and allow significant improvements in our ability to teach and compete at the highest levels and serve our students in creative, innovative ways.
An extensive site planning process, and fundraising feasibility study, took place over an 18 month period in 2021-2022. During the course of this planning process, and with significant input from faculty, families, and St. Andrew’s leadership team, we looked at reworking our buildings, our outdoor spaces, and our parking.
On our Southwest Parkway campus, classroom expansions and improvements are very needed, along with an additional gym and court space, community and gathering spaces, competition tennis facilities, as well as re-imagined outdoor learning spaces to help educate and inspire our students.
- A new Athletics Complex and Student Union on Southwest Parkway. Now open →
- A New Middle School (relocated to the Southwest Parkway Campus) with a Fine Arts Wing and 6-12 STEM Center.
A thoughtful construction timeline was developed to ensure that our students will remain in classrooms as much as possible during these building projects.
The Athletics Complex and Student Union must come online first in order to allow for the Middle School to move to the Southwest Parkway Campus. Since it is being built on an existing parking lot, there will be no classroom disruption for this project. When funding for the Athletics Complex and Student Union is complete, our Middle School construction will begin.
Once the Middle School is built on Southwest Parkway, we will shift our 6-8th graders to that facility, and our 4th and 5th graders will move into Dell Hall (the current Middle School on 31st Street).
Our campaign chair is Lisa Miller ’96. Lisa is supported by the Board of Trustees, a strong capital campaign committee, and the St. Andrew’s Leadership and Advancement team.
We have an incredibly experienced and talented team, both internally and externally, who have invested significantly in this work. We invite you to click on the link below and read about our team:
Raise the Roof Project Scope, Process and Team – Athletics Complex →
We have retained LPA Architects out of San Antonio. They have extensive experience with school design, and they began working with focus groups and our Task Force in 2021 to understand our culture and pedagogy. From that process, LPA thoughtfully designed our new spaces. They continue to meet with faculty and staff to ensure that each phase of the design is aligned with our vision.
Investing in our Athletics Pillar is long overdue — and now, that investment is a reality. Physical activity plays a critical role in supporting a healthy mind and body while helping students build lifelong habits of wellness. Our new Athletics Complex and Student Union, Highlander Hall, already transforms how our students train, compete, and come together as a community.
Previously, St. Andrew’s had just one gym with a single competition court on our Southwest Parkway campus. With both boys’ and girls’ volleyball and basketball programs, scheduling practices and games was extremely challenging. Practices often began as early as 6:00 a.m. or ran as late as 9:00 p.m. — far from ideal for Upper School students.
Limited space also meant we lacked a true home-court advantage. Without enough courts to host competitions, our teams regularly traveled to Dallas/Fort Worth or Houston to compete. Now, with the Athletics Complex open, St. Andrew’s can host SPC tournaments and other competitions on campus. The facility includes a new competition court and six practice courts, easing scheduling pressures and elevating the student-athlete experience.
The new competition gym also serves as a central gathering space for the community. It now hosts Upper School Graduation, St. Andrew’s Day, pep rallies, service projects, and more, with seating for up to 800 guests.
Our former weight room — less than 1,000 square feet — could safely accommodate only about 10 student-athletes at a time, making team training nearly impossible. Today, the 5,000-square-foot Ben Ledet ’20 Sports Performance Center allows entire teams to train together. Our world-class trainers can now fully implement strength and conditioning programs, giving more students access to high-quality, collective training that better prepares them for competition.
The Student Union is the first designated indoor community space for students and volunteers on the Southwest Parkway campus. Until now, students lacked adequate space for studying, clubs, and connection. The Student Union, which also houses the Spirit Shop, provides a welcoming place for students to gather indoors in meaningful ways.
Highlander Hall is becoming the heartbeat of our Southwest Parkway campus. With just $3.5 million left to fund, we are close to fully realizing this vision for our students — today and for generations to come.
As we evaluated the Middle School experience — our hopes and goals for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students alongside the realities of limited space on the 31st Street campus — it became clear that the needs of both students and faculty are best met on the Southwest Parkway campus. While we will preserve the programs and traditions that make the Middle School experience distinctive, relocating Middle School to Southwest Parkway will enhance learning, connection, and opportunity.
Here’s why:
Stronger academic continuity and collaboration: A unified grades 6-12 campus allows Middle and Upper School faculty to collaborate more closely across divisions, strengthening academic consistency and expanding opportunities for Middle School students as they progress toward Upper School.
Expanded academic opportunities: Middle School students who are ready will have increased access to Upper School-level coursework taught by subject-matter experts.
Improved access to athletics and fine arts: Currently, most Middle School student-athletes and artists are bused to Southwest Parkway to use athletic fields and fine arts facilities — an inefficient, time-consuming process that limits program growth. Housing Middle School athletics full-time on the Southwest Parkway campus provides greater access to athletic program directors, all of whom are based there, while fine arts students benefit from dedicated facilities and additional instructors.
Enhanced leadership and mentoring: With limited interaction between Middle and Lower School students today, a combined Middle and Upper School campus creates meaningful leadership development and mentoring opportunities for older students.
More space where it’s needed most: The 31st Street campus has reached capacity and can no longer support meaningful expansion of learning spaces for our youngest students. With continued admissions pressure and a commitment to controlled growth over the next decade, reassigning Dell Hall to house fourth and fifth grade students will free up critical space and allow us to better serve our academic program needs.
Reduced congestion on 31st Street: Traffic flow and parking challenges on 31st Street continue to increase. Reducing the student and faculty population on that campus will help alleviate congestion and improve daily operations.
Expanded transportation options: Transportation to the Southwest Parkway campus will be enhanced, with additional bus stops and routes explored to ensure accessibility for as many families as possible.
As of February 2026, the Athletics Complex and Student Union is on track with $3.5M remaining to raise to complete the building.
Once fundraising for our Athletics Complex & Student Union is complete, we will embark on creating this transformative Middle School and STEM Center.
Our construction timeline has an intentional sequence to minimize disruption for our students. The Athletics Complex and Student Union will be built on an existing parking lot (therefore not compromising existing classroom or gym spaces), and the new Middle School will also be built on an existing parking lot on the Southwest Parkway campus.
When the Middle School shifts to the Southwest Parkway campus, our fourth and fifth graders will move into Dell Hall (the current Middle School building on 31st Street).
St. Andrew’s is an independent 501(c)3, and we receive no funding from the State of Texas or the Episcopal Diocese. As in previous capital campaigns, funding for these building projects will be accomplished through fundraising efforts within our St. Andrew’s community.
We are blessed with a wide variety of support, and we have received 100% support from our Board of Trustees, along with generous donations from parents, grandparents, alumni, and foundations.
We have carefully scoped the project to ensure its success. If an unforeseen issue arises, we would have the ability to conduct our construction in phases to match our fundraising benchmarks.
We are so grateful for your consideration! We are just a phone call away to answer any questions or schedule a meeting.
Please contact Catherine Ervin, Director of Advancement, at 512.299.9809 or cherter@sasaustin.org or Sherie MacKenzie, Major Gifts Officer, at 512.299.9808 or smackenzie@sasaustin.org.
St. Andrew’s is happy to accept in-kind construction, furnishings, or equipment gifts (if part of the design) or would be willing to work with you to design a plan that would best suit your financial needs.
Campaign gifts can be pledged over a three to five-year period.
We conducted a Feasibility study in the summer and fall of 2021. The results supported an $85-$100M campaign to build the Athletics Complex & Student Union, new Middle School & 6-12 STEM Center, and a $5M Endowed Fund to support teacher compensation and financial aid.
As of February 2026, we need to raise $3.5M to reach our $32M goal. The Board of Trustees, Campaign Committee, and Advancement staff are hard at work to reach this goal.
We are asking our families to continue participating in the St. Andrew’s Fund and supporting the Gala for Financial Aid, as those are both critical fundraisers for our operating budget and financial aid program. The Capital Campaign is exclusively meant to build our new facilities. We deeply appreciate your support!
We accept gifts of securities and wire transfer, and cash/check. Capital campaign pledges can be made with an installment plan of up to five years.
If you are interested in including St. Andrew’s in your estate plan, please contact the Advancement Office at: 512.299.9809 or cherter@sasaustin.org.
Security has been top of mind during the design of all of these buildings. Secure entrances and vestibules are being designed for the academic buildings to provide an extra layer of security before any person may enter a building where children are present. Pylons, bullet-proof glass and additional fencing are also part of the design.
Our architects have been working closely with our security firm, Watchmen Group, and our Director of Security to ensure that we are developing safe and secure spaces for our students and faculty.
Our construction timeline has an intentional sequence to minimize disruption for our students. The Athletics Complex and Student Union has been built on an existing parking lot, and the new Middle School and 6-12 STEM Center will also be built on an existing parking lot on the Southwest Parkway campus.
When the Middle School shifts to the Southwest Parkway campus, our fourth and fifth graders will move into Dell Hall (the current Middle School building on 31st Street).
As Austin has grown, St. Andrew’s has grown as well. We currently have significant waitlists and admissions pressure, and there is a desire to expand our student population.
Not only will this enhance our fine arts and athletics by adding more students to those programs, but it allows us to improve our diversity across the board, which is an important priority for our school.
We intend to modestly grow our student body in the coming years, for a maximum of 500 in the Upper School (our Upper School student population is currently 420). This means roughly 125 students per grade. In the Lower School, we will build to allow for four sections of students (currently there are three), which will feed into the Middle School student population.
We will not compromise or change our small student-teacher ratios.
No — our commitment to small student-teacher ratios will remain unchanged. We strongly believe in the value of student-teacher relationships and the benefits of every child being known and cared for individually by our faculty.
There will not be a negative impact on tuition rates once these buildings come online.
Our new facilities will have a great deal of efficiencies to offset some of our increased expenses. We have also built a 20% endowed fund into each building project to support the ongoing maintenance of these new facilities.
As our student body increases, we will add more teachers to support that growth. However, by moving the Middle School to the Southwest Parkway campus, we will realize some efficiencies that do not exist today. For example, the need for two part-time teachers due to campus separation could become one full-time teacher supporting both Middle School and Upper School classes on the same campus.
St. Andrew’s Endowment is our foundation for the future. A healthy endowment is essential to the financial health of an independent school. The SAS Endowment not only serves as a cushion should financial stress affect the school, but it is also composed of gifts intended to supplement scholarships, teaching chairs and departments, and administrative positions. Our St. Andrew’s Endowment currently has a balance of approximately $16 million (including pledges). A healthy endowment is essential for St. Andrew’s to thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. Throughout the country, many of the schools recognized as the best also have the largest endowments.
A $5M increase or more to our endowment fund will allow the school to have financial flexibility in competitive teacher pay and benefits (increasingly an issue in the Austin market) without substantially increasing tuition and will also provide additional room to grow our financial aid program to build a more socioeconomically diverse student body.
Highlander Hall construction is complete!
While we are already benefiting from this beautiful building, we still have $3.5 million left to raise for this first phase of the campaign, all of which will be doubled by a generous matching gift.
Once this match is met in full, we are ready to hit the ground running on phase two!
Highlander Hall opened its doors in September 2025 and has quickly become the heartbeat of campus. We intend to break ground on our new 6-12 STEM Center & Middle School once fundraising is completed for the Athletics Complex & Student Union.
It is an ambitious but achievable timeline, and we extend our gratitude to our Comprehensive Site Plan Task Force, Capital Campaign Committee, St. Andrew’s Leadership, and our generous campaign donors for making this happen so quickly.
As of August 2025, the Athletics Complex and Student Union is on track with $3.5M remaining to raise to complete the building.
The new 6-12 STEM Center & Middle School is in design production.
We anticipate a five-year timeline for fundraising, although this number could change if we receive more gifts in the early stages of this campaign. Every gift counts!
"The Raise The Roof campaign is a pivotal endeavor, crucial to equipping our children for future success. In a world where technology and competition are constantly advancing, state-of-the-art facilities become essential. They will offer our students the opportunity to excel academically, athletically, artistically, and as servants for others. Our focus is not only on today’s needs, but creating a legacy for the next twenty years. This campaign is about attracting and nurturing the best talent out there, providing all of our students with an exceptional educational experience."
Ravi Reddy, Trustee and Lower School Parent